Annual Sheep Shear

Summer is here and it's time to shear the sheep!

Hogle Zoo

I (patrick) took the kids to Hogle Zoo today. We had a great day.

here's the link to the bigger pictures  

http://picasaweb.google.com/ptdarby/HogleZoo53008

A lone man in the wilderness...with my mom and kids

Day 5: The natives have become restless. Five days without their mother has left them in a feral state, half-child...half-beast.

I suppose Emily is doing well. I think she is having to much fun to let me know. Her Standard Medley team got 2nd place. Those darn Germans gave a bigger bribe to the judges. Darn dollar isn't worth squat in England.

My Mom has been a huge help with her gone. My brother Aaron got a new camera from my brother Joseph and gave his to us, so I took some pictures. Here they are. Isaac, Eve, Esther with their cousins Jenny and Allison.

Crazy Reserve Weekend

This weekend we were in Salt Lake City for Patrick's Navy Reserves family week. Of course, I don't have any actual photos of the Navy stuff- BUT I did bring the laptop and take some for other places we went!
Keep in mind that I am half-blinded by the sun while taking these and I can barely tell what I am taking a picture of, since the sun is shining on the laptop screen. We couldn't find our camera before we went. . . . SO here ya go:

This is us resting on our way back from this park-esk location down from the parking lot across the street from the capitol building. The way down was pretty steep and we had to rest often on our way up in the hot, hot sun!



Small monkies outside the visitor's office across the street from UT Capitol building.






A crazy little boy and his mother.

Esther-loo outside the UT Capitol building.

Here is Isaac outside the UT Capitol building. He posed himself.

Happy Mother's Day!

It was a beautiful day in Provo today! The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, the children were singing. . . . a great Mother's Day!
It began with a pile of chocolate and a wonderful breakfast- what day starting out with chocolate could go badly? I was also able to conduct the Primary chorus singing, "Mother, I Love You" in Sacrament meeting. It rocked. They were so cute and sang so nicely, I was very proud of them!
After church we went to our good friends' house for dinner.
It was a very nice day.
Patrick and I have been busy these last few days, working up our Mother's Day present to our mothers- SO, just keep in mind that we are not professionals- but we hope you like your present!
I have a great mother- and a great mother-in-law- Patrick and I like to say that we totally lucked out. My mother is my example and the person I go to when I have a question or I just need some inspiration. Paddy's mom is the most patient woman in the world! You'd have to be with seven boys! SO, Mom, and Mom, we love you!! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Happy Days are Here Again!

Hooray for warm weather!
Today has been a wonderfully warm sunny day outside and the kids are outside getting vitamin D and exercise!
Here are some silly pictures of them on the trampoline with our little neighbor friends, Vivian and Adra.

Changing Life

This blog is not incorrectly-named- our lives here have been so different. Patrick is home waaaay more often and I am gone more often. It's not bad- it's just different and it has taken some adjusting too- and we're still constantly adjusting! We have been here in Utah for almost a year! I can hardly believe it. We left Virginia last year on St. Patrick's Day- it took us five days to drive here but I count the beginning as the day we left. So tomorrow will be our one-year anniversary of our new life.
Many things are the same:
We still have roses to tend- about a thousand more here than in VA
My cell phone! Though, I had to add a text-messaging plan since I am a texting-fool (By the way, that is still the best way to get a hold of me)
The midgets- just a year taller and smarter.
Our stuff is still the same, though Patrick has been a lovely shelf-building maniac lately so we have a few new additions and our house is getting more organized as things have new homes to live in!
The best thing, I think, about living here is being so near our family, and even a few friends we've made while being far away! We loved being able to go to Easter and Thanksgiving at my grandparents' house and Christmas with the Ekstroms in WA! It has been so awesome.

BUT everything else is waaay different:
My hair- did I mention that I'm blonde? Oh, and Friday Hil and I went a shade even lighter.
We are going to school!
No one is working, though that will change this summer since Patrick wants me to get a job.
Our ward is our block- weird. It boggles the mind how many people are members here! Here, you assume everyone IS one until told otherwise- everywhere else we've ever been has been COMPLETELY opposite!
The BEST thing is that we are near our family- and even some friends we've picked up these past few years along the way!
It was so awesome to go to Easter and Thanksgiving at the greatgrandparents and Christmas with my family was awesome. It is just so incredibly awesome- we've been dreaming of what it would be like for years now and though we aren't visiting as much as we imagined, it is just so nice to by by our family!